The doctor may use more than one method of treatment, depending on what type of extracranial germ cell tumor the child has.
Surgery
The physician may be able to completely remove the tumor. If not, chemotherapy may be used to kill remaining cancer cells.
Chemotherapy
The doctor may use chemotherapy drugs to kill the patient's cancer cells. These drugs may be taken orally or injected into a vein or muscle. They travel in the bloodstream and kill cancer cells throughout the body.
Chemotherapy has helped improve five-year survival rates in children to about 60 to 90 percent. Drug combinations used for malignant non-seminomatous germ cell tumors include cisplatin, etoposide and bleomycin or carboplatin, etoposide, ifosfamide, and bleomycin.
The severity of side effects depends on the type of drug given and the length of time the child must take it. Because chemotherapy attacks rapidly dividing cells, including those in normal tissues such as the hair, lining of the mouth and intestines and bone marrow, patients may experience hair loss, mouth sores, nausea and vomiting.
Lowered resistance to infections due to low white blood cell counts or bruising and bleeding more easily due to lowered platelet counts are other side effects. Low red blood cell counts (anemia) may cause fatigue. Such conditions go away after chemotherapy is over. Some patients develop another form of cancer years later as a result of chemotherapy.
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